Thoughts on Jamie’s Dream School
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My Latest Book
Living Better (Paperback)
How I Learned To Survive Depression
by
Alastair Campbell
"Superbly readable, supremely useful. This book could save lives."
– Stephen Fry
LIVING BETTER is Alastair Campbell’s honest, moving and life affirming account of his lifelong struggle with depression. It is an autobiographical, psychological and psychiatric study, which explores his own childhood, family and other relationships, and examines the impact of his professional and political life on himself and those around him. But it also lays bare his relentless quest to understand depression not just through his own life but through different treatments. Every bit as direct and driven, clever and candid as he is, this is a book filled with pain, but also hope - he examines how his successes have been in part because of rather than despite his mental health problems - and love. His partner of forty years, Fiona Millar, writes a moving afterword on how she too has learned to live with his depression.
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Alastair Campbell says: ‘We all know someone with depression. There is barely a family untouched by it. We may be talking about it more than we did, back in the era of 'boys don't cry' - they did you know - and when a brave face or a stiff upper lip or a best foot forward was seen as the only way to go. But we still don't talk about it enough. There is still stigma, and shame, and taboo. There is still the feeling that admitting to being sad or anxious makes us weak. It took me years, decades even to get to this point, but I passionately believe that the reverse is true and that speaking honestly about our feelings and experiences (whether as a depressive or as the friend or relative of a depressive) is the first and best step on the road to recovery.’
don’t think this was as related to reality as the kids to cooks enterprise was…
and that is mainly down to the impossibility of getting a bell curve of typical students. – but you faired better than many expected – and its not a job that drew me in any way…three siblings did…. I am the youngest but I look twenty years younger than all of them
To be 100% honest, I though it was a waste of your talent. Getting an entire room full of, essentially, problem kids to listen was never going to be easy or particularly fruitful… It looked like a seriously hard job, but I respect you for doing it.
Keep up the good work on the charities.
hi alastair,
i am listening to your broadcast on lbc as i type, (ive always been a fan of yours)….has jamie oliver any thoughts on becoming a politician do u know? he is a great bloke as well and the causes he has fought for have made him an inspiration to many people….or does he basically stay apolitical in order not to pigeon-hole himself with one political party?
On the contrary: If Al and the other celebs had not participated the audience would have been minimal. Any airing of the “inadequate” results of the education system is valuable. These kids have fallen through every safety net erected, despite the vastly greater resources put into education over the last ten years. The frustration felt by overworked teachers can be felt by us all watching these shows. As Al says, the debate has been broadened as a result. The celebs were on a hiding to nothing and are to be congratulated on their partipation.
making it a reality TV show, meant we had the usual pantomime of performers – so it’s not really reality at all. The kids were performing for the camera, so I could not watch more than 2 eps. I think you and most of the other ‘teachers’ were fantastic – engaging and genuine. People should stick to what they know – Jamie was bloody marvelous on his school dinner programme. I think he should tackle diet & nutrition beyond schools to beat disease and illnesses.
I caught up with it on Youtube and it was very interesting and watchable. I thought you did a great job in demonstrating that the gap between politicians and young students is not as big as it sometimes seems. I mean, these were ‘challenging’ students, and you were really able to connect with them and encourage them. Though, I could envisage quite a few politicians (especially Tory ones) having a hard time connecting with them. It was really watchable because it was clearly a challenge for you, the teachers, as well as the students. I think you all did well – Even David Starkey was connecting with them. Agree with you that it probably won’t have any lasting effect on education, but it’s definitely been a positive program for society in general.
Fair enough, I accept your point, it just felt a bit like watching a bunch of teenagers playing up for a couple of hours. Not my thing.
I would have preferred to see some AC original programming… Hopefully he’ll have more in the pipeline.
I work as a teacher in a socio-economically deprived area and thought the program really highlights the demands of teaching in an inspiring way. I was under the misguided thoughts it was going to be a “look how good we are all at teaching and how teachers need to be” but it was not at all. Unfortunately there are struggles like seen in the program in classes all the time and I think it is extremely important to gain some kind of rapport with your kids rather than the old traditionalist view of I am a teacher you must respect me. Our society has changed and students know that we are accountable, whether this is good or bad is another matter but we have to deal with it. If the kids know that you are really interested in them as individuals it goes some way into engaging them.
I’m a bit torn between thinking the programme has exploited the participants and/or whether it has helped them. Do you think in general it has been positive for them, Alastair?